Humour for Stress Management

Stress is caused by routine factors like commitments, pressures, professionalism, travelling, household responsibilities, emergencies, unexpected events etc. It is how we respond to these events that determines whether we stress out ourselves or cope well.

We tend to give a larger picture to the problem we have at hand. We magnify the issue out of proportion, give it more importance than what is due and take it more seriously than we must. Many of us treat small maneuverable problems like it is a matter of life and death. This skewed manner of looking at a problem can create nervousness, panic, anxiety, fear and stress.

Many people have advocated the use of humour for releasing stress. One way of beating stress through humour is by engaging in laughter therapy. Laughter therapy practiced everyday helps in releasing the pent up emotions and tension in the muscles.

Another way is fine tuning your attitude and seeing the funnier or lighter side of whatever is happening to you. Try to see the humour in whatever life events take place. Taking lightly does not mean discounting the seriousness of the issue. It only means not blowing it out of proportion and taking a very narrow and fearful view of the situation at hand. By becoming serious, you cannot resolve the problem. Be light hearted about it and do your best to address the concern.

The kind of solutions that you might come out with is also likely to be very different and probably more effective if you have a cool, light, composed head as against a head that is crammed with tension, anxiety and seriousness.

Laughing, finding the irony/sarcasm at your circumstance/problem may reduce the impact it has on your mind and thereby reduce stress. It helps you to take a more realistic view of the situation and not an over hyped version of a stressed out mind.